


metanoia

by miilkteas



Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: Bittersweet Ending, F/M, Hunter!Jughead, bughead - Freeform, kinda angsty, mermaid!au, mermaid!betty, mermaidhunter!au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-15
Updated: 2017-07-15
Packaged: 2018-12-02 09:12:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,507
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11506260
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/miilkteas/pseuds/miilkteas
Summary: jughead couldn't imagine a life where he didn't hunt mermaids. [ hunter!juggy and mermaid!betty ]





	metanoia

**Author's Note:**

> i finished riverdale in three days flat and i'm over halfway through this site's collection of bughead fanfiction. sue me.

The little port town of Riverdale was quaint, the definition of the American dream, and perfectly innocent if not for the fact that it was home to the largest guild of mermaid hunters on the east coast. 

Jughead Jones had been raised a mermaid hunter, handling harpoons and nets from the time he could walk—heck, he learned to swim before he could walk. He had been on countless outings with the guild, learning the skills a mermaid hunter needed from his father, who was the grandmaster of the guild. The town’s economy was not made up of fishing and maple syrup, like many would presume, but instead it was the mermaid scale trade. 

Mermaids were few and rare, and a pound of scales could easily go up to several thousand dollars. Over the years, many had migrated to other parts of the coast, but that didn’t stop several clans of mermaids from staying by Riverdale, where they were constantly in danger of being hunted. Jughead was proud to say that his kill count was impressive for his age, and he knew that he would rise in the ranks as he grew up. 

There had been reports of a mermaid clan, adorned with iridescent white scales—far different than the usual greens and blues that the mermaids depended on for camouflage. Occasionally, they would run into red or orange mermaids, but they were not uncommon. Jughead was delighted to hear the news, and the other mermaid hunters agreed loudly. 

They would be scouring the waters tomorrow at dawn. 

He woke up while it was still dark out, eager for a good hunt. Armed with his favorite harpoon, he showed up at the port with a wide grin on his face. Older guild members, who had taken it upon themselves to show up early, nodded at him in greeting. Quickly, he loaded up his supplies, casting a look out into the water, where he knew mermaids lurked. 

“We’re ready to head out,” said FP, his father. Jughead could only nod in reply, too immobilized by anticipation. This was one of many hunts that he had participated in, but the sheer news of a rare clan was enough to make him smile for days. 

As the small hunting fleet made their way into the open water, they began to check on their traps that had been placed up and down the coast. They often caught large fish, which were used as bait—Riverdale had the finest supply of seafood that the young man had ever seen, and since it was difficult to avoid fishing boats, many mermaids often risked the dangers of a trap to obtain food. 

They found a red scaled male in one of the traps, one of the younger members (Joaquin if he remembered correctly) take the kill. So far, there was no sign of the iridescent white clan, but everyone had high hopes. The guild stopped about two miles down the coast to place more traps, while Jughead was sent ashore to track mermaids that might have strayed closer to shore.

He was infamous in the guild for being a tracker, and besides—FP knew his son was a loner and often sent him out alone, knowing that he could perfectly care for himself. 

What he wasn’t expecting however, was a girl with a ponytail tied a little too neatly with a grin that made everything else seem a little too dull. He had never seen her before, and his first instinct was to run away screaming—okay that was a little too dramatic. Let’s just say Jughead had a very strong urge to walk the other way.

He was a little too slow however, and she was already bounding over to greet him despite his permanently set scowl. “What are you doing here so early?”

“I could ask you the same thing,” he said after a moment’s hesitation. Jughead was relatively uninterested in whatever conversation she wanted to make, and his sharp eyes scoured the shore for signs of mermaid activity—even the smallest scale could lead him to the creature. 

She was relatively unperturbed by his grumpy demeanor, and kept on bouncing after him as he made his way down the beach. “My name’s Betty—I come down here early to feed the seals, sometimes the birds.” 

“You shouldn’t feed marine life,” he replied with a signature roll of his eyes and he took bigger strides that hopefully Betty couldn’t catch up to. Of course, she kept up, her perfect little ponytail and all. Jughead was starting to get a feeling that he wouldn’t be able to shake her until someone from the guild picked him up—and even then she would probably question why he was getting on such a shady boat. 

Her smile didn’t falter at all. “Someone’s gotta feed them.”

“They can feed themselves.”

Obviously he wasn’t being very nice, but Betty was as cheery as ever. Jughead finally accepted that she wasn’t going to leave anytime soon, so he proceeded to ignore her as his eyes caught glimpse of a shimmer in the water. No doubt a mermaid.

Without a word, he waded waist-deep into the water, his eyes scanning the dull water back and forth before removing his small harpoon from its strap. Betty’s eyes widened, but his eyes were transfixed on the glittery shadow. He took careful aim, shuddering as the cold water seeped into his clothing. 

“You’re a hunter.”

In that same moment, he fired, scowling as he missed. The shimmering tail swam away quickly, and he knew that there was no hope in catching it now. Perhaps the fleet would have better luck than he did—at least they weren’t stuck with a bubbly blonde that called herself Betty and was far too nosy for her own good. 

He let out a loud sigh. “Yes, I am a hunter.” 

Betty didn’t appear to be prejudiced against him, only saying, “It’ll be our secret” with a wink that drove Jughead absolutely crazy, and he wondered if he had gone insane to take note of such a thing. “I won’t tell.”

And he believed her.

Jughead found excuses to keep coming back to that same beach—he suspected that mermaids took sanctuary in the cove, or he had a source of information that could lead him to more mermaids, or any lame thing he could think of. Occasionally he would shoot one to keep his story going, much to Betty’s displeasure, but he spent much of his time with her. 

She was day, and he was night—they couldn’t be more different even if they tried, but he somehow found himself at the beach waiting for her more than once. Their friendship was the oddest thing to have ever happened (he wasn’t even sure if it could be called a friendship) but it somehow worked. 

Often, he found her looking out into the ocean almost longingly, and they certainly never mentioned his status as a mermaid hunter after their initial meeting. They talked civilly, often about their opinion on marine life and found common interests. Writing was one of them, but Jughead absolutely refused to share his recent works with Betty. (They all featured a defiant blonde girl with the world in her hands and stars in her eyes—a name was never mentioned, but Betty would be too sharp not to notice the striking resemblance.) 

They never mentioned their families. Betty revealed that she had a sister, but all Jughead saw was a world of hurt in her eyes and decided not to press further on the topic. She never asked about his life at home. 

Later on, he learned that her last name was Cooper—a strangely familiar name that was unknown to him at the same time. He disregarded it as trivial and proceeded to admire her beauty. It wouldn’t be long before FP began to suspect why his son was out on the beach so often. 

“Dad, I’m going back to the beach—” he said, but his stern father blocked the door before he could leave the house.

Eyebrows raised, he began to interrogate his son. “I don’t know why you go there so much when we both know that place isn’t exactly mermaid central.”

“Well it kind of is now,” he replied, obviously in a hurry. Jughead attempted to sidestep FP, only to be held back by a muscular arm. “I’ll have a kill today—promise.” 

“It’s a girl isn’t it.”

He kinda had him there—but this was Jughead Jones and he certainly was not going to say that  _ yes, it was a girl _ and he certainly wasn’t going to let his father get in the way. “It has nothing to do with a girl,” he muttered.

“It  _ is _ a girl,” FP accused triumphantly. Jughead wasn’t sure if he was happy or angry, but either way he wasn’t going to stick around to find out. 

With a hasty duck, he slipped out the door. “Bye, see you at dinner!”

When he arrived at the beach an hour later, Betty was in the water. He’d never seen her swim, so he assumed that she either didn’t know how or disliked the water. He waved hello and she waved back, although her smile looked forced, which did not go amiss by the observant hunter.

Jughead quickly ditched his shirt and beanie to join her in the water, shivering as he’ll never get used to the cold water even though it’s practically warm compared to the coldness of the guild that raised him from birth. He swam towards her, and she backed away as if daring him to go into deeper water. With a smirk, he followed—the water was his element. 

What he didn’t expect was her face turning paler and Betty diving into the water, revealing a shimmering white tail that sparkled in every color that he could think of.

His eyes narrowed suspiciously before his mind put two and two together, and in that moment he knew that their friendship was a sham. But he would protect her despite every ideal that he was raised upon, and he would keep her secret. After treading water for an hour, Jughead realized that Betty was unlikely to surface anytime soon—he couldn’t help but feel slightly disappointed. 

She didn’t come out of the water in the next hour either, during which he sat on the shore and stared into the horizon as if it would solve all of his problems. 

By high noon, he was convinced that Betty would not be returning. Jughead couldn’t really blame her either—she knew he was a hunter, goddammit, and stuck around for as long as she felt safe. Betty was a lover, not a fighter. 

Jughead, on the other hand, was both a lover and a fighter—the thought of him enamored with the small blonde had crossed his mind more than once but he would certainly fight for her sake. Who was he even kidding at this point—the frightened look in her eyes was enough to tell him that she was absolutely terrified of what he might do to her.

He even killed some of her own species in front of her, for fuck’s sake, and Jughead felt what he could describe as  _ guilt _ for the first time in his life. Angry at himself and everything life had to offer him, he slung his harpoon on his back again and trudged down the beach, engulfed in his own melancholy. 

Of course,  _ Betty _ had to be one of them. She probably used her mermaid charm on him—“beware the siren’s song,” FP always told him—and his guilt quickly turned into annoyance. Jughead Jones had been successfully seduced by innocent Betty Cooper (oh, that would be one for the headlines.)

Jughead felt a conglomerate of emotions, shame and anger being the more prominent ones, but he couldn’t help but wonder how Betty was feeling despite being raised knowing that mermaids were soulless seduction monsters. 

Lost in his own muddle of sadness, he trudged down the beach even further, knowing that it would be dark before he could turn around and return home. This was Betty—bright, radiant, and absolutely amazing. Nothing like what his father had told him and certainly different from the ideals the guild raised him upon. 

He found Betty an hour later, sitting on a tall rock on the shore. 

Where her tail was in the morning, there was a pair of legs. “It’s rude to stare,” she chided, unable to meet his eyes. Scoffing, she turned back to face the ocean. “Now get lost,  _ hunter _ .”

She spat out the words like they were poison in her mouth, with the same amount of venom she used when she mentioned her sister that was never really her sister (not after being sent away.) “I just want to talk,” he said, hands up in surrender.

“Why don’t you just shoot me already?”

Jughead considered her words carefully, deciding to unarm himself. “Betty please, can we just talk?”

“I don’t know what you want to talk about. How much my scales will go for?”

He furrowed his eyebrows, wondering if Betty’s rebellious side would get the best of her one day. “Bets, let me explain before you assume things.”

“What is there to explain?” she cried angrily. “You’re a hunter and I’m half mermaid—we live in two very different worlds.”

At the mention of half mermaid, Jughead had to ask. “Wait, half? How do mermaids even have sex—”

“Jughead Jones, I don’t think you’re really in a position to ask how I was conceived,” Betty seethed. “I thought you were better than that hunter riff-raff, but I was wrong. Now excuse me while I return to my family and forget you ever existed.”

Dumbfounded, he opened his mouth, only to shut it once more. 

“Cat got your tongue, Juggy?” she snapped before diving into the water. When she resurfaced, Jughead took note of her tail. “I actually really liked you—”

“You did?” he interrupted with a wide grin. 

Her glare was enough to wipe the smile off his face. “That is, until I realized you wanted my dead. You’re from the Serpent guild, aren’t you?”

“Yes.” He waded into the water, desperate for a reason that would make Betty stay. Betty was his light at the end of the tunnel, the bright spark that gave him hope when all seemed desolate—she had to stay, or at least let him explain the frenzied mess that went on in his head.

“Then I have nothing left to say to you,” she huffed. “Please just leave me alone if you’re not going to shoot me now.”

Jughead sighed in exasperation, her words filling his thoughts with sadness like the cold water was seeping into his clothing. Whatever he said would fall on the deaf ears of a frightened girl that knew nothing but fear all her life. 

“I’ll protect you.”

“And I’ll be holding you accountable.” 

**Author's Note:**

> i had no idea how to write the ending and it was supposed to be way longer anyways. it felt right to leave the ending right there, so there we go!


End file.
